


DOMESTICITY

by thornsilver



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, D/s, Gen, winter soldier mask
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-11
Updated: 2014-10-11
Packaged: 2018-02-20 17:01:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2436206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thornsilver/pseuds/thornsilver
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky is dealing with Winter Soldier in non-traditional ways. Steve helps. Thank you Viridian5 for the beta!</p>
            </blockquote>





	DOMESTICITY

**Author's Note:**

> I saw at least one fic with the mask used in a similar way. I just had to do this, because I have feels about it.

Steve knows something is wrong the second he steps on their floor. The apartment is too silent. Bucky can move like a ghost sometimes, but he usually makes a point of making noise these days. Steve steps further into the room and stops. Bucky is kneeling in the corner.

“Hey,” says Steve. Bucky does not react.

They have lived together long enough now that he has kind of learned how to deal with this. (He will never get used to dealing with this.) As Bucky’s brain damage healed, more and more of the man he knew came back. Bucky remembers almost all of their life before the fall, but his years as the Winter Soldier are patchy. The cabal of specialists that Stark (or more probably Pepper) had managed to organize seems to think that the memory wipes had stopped a lot of the brain connections from forming in the first place. Bucky seems to be glad to not have those memories back. What he remembers from that time is bad enough.

Steve comes closer and crouches next to Bucky. His heart sinks--Bucky is wearing the muzzle. Sure, everyone else refers to it as the “mask”, but Steve cannot think of it as anything but muzzle. Especially since Bucky almost never speaks when he wears it. Bucky has not gone this far in a while. While he never heard on the topic from Bucky himself (he refuses to discuss most of the things dealing with Winter Soldier and his time in HYDRA hands), Sam has suggested that it’s Bucky’s way to decompress and deal with how overwhelming it is to be a person again. That does not mean Steve has to like it. At least Bucky is still in his household sweatpants and tee. It is always worse when he puts on the whole uniform.

Steve mentally waves the plans for their dinner good-bye. Bucky will not remove his mask for eating, and it is not like Steve could stuff his face if Bucky goes hungry.

“Want to watch TV?” Bucky’s still does not move, but his eyes roll to the side to check Steve out. Another good sign. “Come on, Buck, I’ll find something you like.” Steve puts his hand on Bucky’s back for a second before getting up and heading for the couch.

By the time he had found a program that he thought was perfect (he and Bucky had developed an addiction to silly nature documentaries), Bucky had moved to kneel near the couch instead. He is watching the screen, but his eyes keep straying towards Steve. Steve knows what that means, even without words.

So they watch TV for hours, Steve’s hand playing with Bucky’s unruly mop of hair. This really should feel weirder than it is.

END


End file.
